Apartment accomodations in Europe - makes sense?

DK wrote:
Going for to Vienna and Prague for about 3 weeks. A friend of
mine mentioned short-term apartment rental as a good alternative
to hotel. Supposedly quite popular in Europe and he had good
experience with it in Amsterdam. The sites I checked do list
this option and it runs almost 2X cheaper than hotels.

Any caveats I need to be aware with this? On one hand, we'll only
need a place to sleep and take shower - every other service hotels
provide would pretty much be unimportant (oh, an air conditioning
might be a plus but that's unlikley?). On the other hand, if it has a
potential to create a headache of any kind, I'd rather pay more to
hotel for a peace of mind.

Any advice, shared experiences and pointers would be much
appreciated! Thanks in advance.

We've done this several places in Europe and have always been happy
with the results. For a family, or even a couple, this is much more
convenient because you can get away from the others in the family if
you wish, which is quite difficult in a small hotel room. Also, it's
nice to be able to fix your own meals sometimes and not have to eat
every meal in a restaurant. Just go to a grocery store, pick up some
beer or wine, and some food that you enjoy or would like to try. I
find grocery shopping in a foreign country to be interesting in itself.

We only once had a problem in Austria. We arrived at the apartment on
Saturday afternoon, there was no toilet paper, and no where to buy it
until Monday. Everyones' job was then to visit the restrooms in
restaurants and bring back as much toilet paper as they could.

A pleasant way to travel is visit several different places in a week
staying in hotels, alternating with staying in an apartment for a week.
It certainly makes for a pleasant break from hotels.

George

"DK" wrote in message
...
Going for to Vienna and Prague for about 3 weeks. A friend of
mine mentioned short-term apartment rental as a good alternative
to hotel. Supposedly quite popular in Europe and he had good
experience with it in Amsterdam. The sites I checked do list
this option and it runs almost 2X cheaper than hotels.

Any caveats I need to be aware with this? On one hand, we'll only
need a place to sleep and take shower - every other service hotels
provide would pretty much be unimportant (oh, an air conditioning
might be a plus but that's unlikley?). On the other hand, if it has a
potential to create a headache of any kind, I'd rather pay more to
hotel for a peace of mind.

Any advice, shared experiences and pointers would be much
appreciated! Thanks in advance.

DK

We always rent an apartment, flat, or small house if we are going to be in
one place for a week or more. We have done this in several places in Italy,
France, Belgium, and Switzerland. We have never encountered a problem, and
the benefits are many, including much lower cost than hotel accommodations.
The freedom is wonderful. Cooking an occasional meal is fun, but even if we
don't cook we love having a refrigerator to store snacks and drinks; and
having our morning pastry and coffee or tea in the morning without having to
get showered, shaved, and dressed is great. The presence of a washing
machine in the apartment is also very useful; we can put a load of laundry
in at night and hang it up to dry the next morning (most apartments do not
have electric dryers).

We have also made friends with several of the owners from whom we rented. We
have even invited back to stay in their properties free of charge.

We strongly recommend this practice.

Linda and Ron Audet
Fredericksburg, VA

We've stayed in vacation apartments throughout Holland, Austria and
Germany. They usually are a very good value and are much more
comfortable that a hotel room. Plus, you can save a lot of money by
cooking the occasional (or every) meal at home. In German-speaking
countries vacation apartments are called "ferienwohnung."

Things to be aware of:

1. There may be an additional charge for cleaning at the end of you
stay. Make sure to ask about this. Or, you may be expected to clean it
yourself.
2. Linens are not always included (usually, but not always). Again,
ask.
3. You may be responsible for all cleaning and other household chores
during your stay. Most likely you will need to take out the trash,
garbage and recycling yourself. The owner may come in once a week to
spruce things up.

If you want to avoid setting this up on your own, you could look at an
outfit like "Untours" that handles European apartment rentals. They are
based in the USA, and I've heard good things about them (but have never
used them myself).